Friday, August 31, 2012

Millionaires park supercars in their living room



"Supercar owners living in an exclusive high-rise apartment block can now park their beloved motors from their - LIVING ROOMS. Hamilton Parks in Singapore is a brand-new 30-storey development where flats cost between £6 and £15 MILLION. But with parking in the city limited, the skyscraper designer came up with an innovative way of parking some of the planets fastest cars. Residents simply drive their 200mph motors into a biometrically-controlled lift at the base of Hamilton Parks on the city's swanky Orchard Road."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGBZSPuO7Jk


If you have the money, can you park an old beater in there? Would the neighbors complain?

'Til We Meet Again



http://tilwemeetagain.net/

That video is two years oold. They have grown since then. One of their stores is coming to Southridge Mall: http://www.jsonline.com/business/casket-store-set-to-open-in-southridge-e16n0uc-168225486.html.

Four for Fridays

Hello everyone! Another week of Four for Fridays is here! Are you glad! It has been a long and interesting week so far. Looking forward to the weekend! Here are some questions for you....

1) What does Labor Day mean to you?

2) Do you write yourself reminder notes?

3) What kind of home remedies do you know or use?

4) What is your favorite high school memory?

Enjoy your weekend!

Open Blog - Friday


Enjoy your day.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Fantasy Football Time!!!

It's that time of year again my Irregular friends. Time for the JTI Fantasy football league! Invites went out to last year's managers but we still have open spots and we have to draft by Labor Day! If you are interested in participating (It's so easy and we are helpful!), send me an email at cjlarsen68@wi.rr.com and I will send you an invite. And to Orbs, you haven't joined this year yet! Check your email.

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my marvelous Martians!  How are you?  Curiosity roves the silent red planet, oblivious to the daily bedlam on Earth.  If I could, I would live up there.  It’s visually stunning, but the environment is not human-friendly.  Some of my customers would also object to the commute.

Our weather has been more or less seasonal, but things are supposed to really heat up again tomorrow.  Don’t write off the summer of 2012 just yet.  The sun and heat will be appreciated by our vegetable gardens, which we’ve had to water all summer long. 

Time does fly as you get older.  My blog next week will appear in September.  September?  I’d swear it was June just yesterday.  Oh dear.

As we approach the big election, my business picks up more and more.  Most people want to be reassured that their candidate is the one.  Who am I to shatter their dreams?  Personally, I believe that no matter who wins this election, the people of the USA will lose.  Again.  We are a good people, but many of our leaders are corrupt.

Oh my, how did I get started on politics?  Never discuss politics, religion, or sex with other people and you will avoid most conflicts.  It will be boring, but peaceful. 

Instead, let’s talk about road construction in and around Racine.  I don’t think it’s ever been this bad before.  So many projects at once is idiotic.  The Four Mile project has been delayed and delayed.  Not only is it hard to get around the north side, but if you live near one of these projects, you get to put up with all the noise, dust, and congestion.  We should start a pool for each project on when the concrete will be first busted up because something wasn’t done right. 

Of course the special project is the roundabout in front of City Hall.  The city has to kick in nearly $1 million for the state funded project.  (Somehow, we always have money for these things, but not for streetlights or more police.)  One of my favorite blogs on the subject is Mr. OrbsCorbs’ “Computer Generated Preview of 6th Street Roundabout:” http://www.jtirregulars.com/2011/03/computer-generated-preview-of-6th.html
7th Street has been shut down entirely, although you can cross at Wisconsin Ave.  An aerial view would probably look like a partially bombed out city.

Finally, my dears, I can predict a massive increase in political advertising, robocalls, and mailings.  Many of these are created with the intent to incite people.  They are rude, crude lies.  Let’s not allow our political affiliations affect our normal discourse and interactions with others.  It is going to get nastier as the campaign wears on, so please start practicing tolerance now.

Thank you, my deer and does, for reading my blog this week.  I love the visits and I love the attention.  And I love showering it right back on you.  Thank you for spending time with me.

Who wrote the Book of Love?  Find out: madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com.

Have a good week, one and all.  Next Tuesday the children go back to school, so a keep an eye out for the buses.  Live, love, learn.  Geloscopy!

Open Blog - Wednesday


Sing out!

Sunday, August 26, 2012

HOW BOOBS GOT THEIR NAME

I had no idea!  You learn something every day.

This is much simpler than I thought !

 No need to thank me....

Just trying to keep friends informed and educated.....

Saturday, August 25, 2012

"Sexy Mandarin Lesson 11: iPhone (Trailer)"

Warning: Adult Content, Again

 

http://www.sexymandarin.com/

Why didn't they have this when I was in school?

Useless Information

 
 Did you know:

The Lakota Indians when someone is leaving, they never say “Good Bye” they say “Travel Well”.

RIP - Neil Armstrong

Neil Armstrong, 1st man on the moon, dies at 82

Armstrong was a quiet self-described nerdy engineer who became a global hero when as a steely-nerved pilot he made "one giant leap for mankind" with a small step on to the moon

MISINTERPRETATION...

I was in a pub last Saturday night, and drank a few, and noticed two very large women by the bar.

They both had pretty strong accents, so I asked, "Hey, are you two ladies from Ireland?"

One of them chirped, saying, "It's WALES, you idiot!"

So, I immediately apologized and said, "I'm sorry.

Are you two whales from Ireland?"

That's pretty much the last thing I remember...

Open Blog - Weekend


Time to dance, or relax.

Friday, August 24, 2012

Hurricane Central

Knowing how things get blown out of proportion, thought I'd give you an update. We in SW Florida are expecting some weather on Sunday night and early Monday. Looks like the brunt of it may miss us. We can hope. Hurricanes are no joking matter and I have taken precautions...truck is full of gas...have some propane for the grill. Water, beer,(oops is that one of the things I should have on my list?). Anyway, I have what I need for a few days. I will check in on Monday, assuming I have Internet. Damn Republicans come to our fair state and bring Hell down on us.

Weaponized Roomba


This is just what I need for those hard to reach places.

Four for Fridays

Hello everyone! Welcome back to Four for Fridays after a busy, yet redundant week. More of the same old, same old, I guess. Here are some questions for you.

1) How often do you "clean" out your computer?

2) How did you come up with your screen name?

3) What is the biggest fish you have ever caught?

4) Have you ever done a background check on someone?

Enjoy your weekend!

Open Blog - Friday


Happy Friday.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Astronauts and the College Mindset List for the Class of 2016


Every year Beloit College publishes a fun list that tries to capture the mindset of that year's incoming freshling class. Beloit just published the list for the college class of 2016. The list usually gets a fair amount of media attention and this year is no exception. The list touches on lots of topics technology, movie and music stars that the students do (and do not) know, television series and politicians. I sometimes call it the "List Designed to Make Everyone Feel Old".
One of the items on the list this year caught my eye.
"72. Astronauts have always spent well over a year in a single space flight."
Really? That caught my attention since most ISS astronauts average about six months or so on a typical mission. There have been a couple of really long duration space flights but those were mostly back in the days of Mir. So of course I had to look up the list of spaceflight records and it turns out only two people spent more than one year on single space flight (and two who JUST missed it). The longest spaceflights are
  1. Valeri Polyakov, January 8th, 1994 to March 22, 1995 (437 days)
  2. Sergei Aydeyev, August 13, 1998 to August 28, 1999 (379 days)
  3. Vladmi Titov and Musa Manarov, December 21, 1987 to December 21, 1988 (officially listted at 364.9 days)
That's it. The entire list of people who have spent a year in space (give or take  day) on a single spaceflight and two of them were well before the class of 2016 was born. Since most of them were born in 1994, that means they were about five when Aydevev landed and ended his year in space. I seriously doubt many members of the class of 2016 remember his landing (and I bet most adults in the United States don't remember it!)
For cumulative time in space, it looks like there are 27 people who have spent at least one year in space spread out over multiple missions, seven of whom are still listed as active astronauts. I don't count these since Beloit's list specifies a single spaceflight.
In this case, I would say that got it exactly backwards. For the class of 2016, they cannot remember the last time a human spent well over a year in a single spaceflight (save for a few of them with eidetic memory!)

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

Farmer's Ferrari

How's your day going ?

Sooo...How's YOUR day going?
 
In retrospect, MY day is going pretty good ...

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my Do-Bees and Don’t-Bees!  How are you?  It’s supposed to warm up as the week wears on.  My veggie garden will appreciate that.  I’m already seeing some things shut down for fall.  That’s depressing.

Speaking of depressing, I’m so sorry that I missed last weekend’s get together.  At the last moment, Junior decided that he was going to go with Señor Zanza and me.  As we left the house, Junior tripped in our driveway and smacked his chin on the cement.  It bled like crazy.  I applied some of my Wound-B-Gon Ointment,™ filled a towel with ice cubes and held it against his chin.  I knew, though, that it would require stitches, at the least.  I was fearing a cracked or broken jaw, and/or damaged teeth.

It turned out that all that the wound required was six stitches.  X-rays of Junior’s head showed nothing.  (Tee-hee.)  While we were in the ER, I urged Señor Zanza to attend the get together “stag.”  I told him that I would join him there after Junior was bandaged up.  He said, “No, my place is here with you and your son.”  Oh my, such loyalty.  I swooned a little when I heard that. 

The whole thing took 4 or 5 hours.  I understand that is not uncommon when the ER is busy.  So we missed the get together and Junior received a wound that he was showing off to his friends the next day.  On the way home from the hospital, though, Junior’s jaw was still full of the anesthetic they gave him in the ER.  His speech was slurred and he drooled constantly.  (Sounds like some of old my dates.  Oh dear.)  The towel that once held ice cubes was now his drool rag.  We’re not nasty enough to post a video of that on YouTube, but we are nasty enough to use it as a bargaining chip with Junior.  Whenever he disobeys me now, all I have to say is, “OK, I’ll upload that video, then.”  He becomes compliant immediately.

The campaigning for the fall elections is already in full swing.  I don’t mind the mailings so much as the robocalls.  Some leave a message, some don’t, but it’s always a number I don’t recognize and it’s never legitimately for just me.  The politicians excluded themselves from the national and state do-not-call registries.  They have no shame.  That, indeed, may be the secret to success in today’s politics.

The landing of Curiosity on Mars was a major technological achievement.  Bravo, NASA, bravo!  It’s good to have something to feel good about again.  If all goes as planned, this rover will be sending us data and photos for months.  It is stunning to think of all the work that had to be done to make this possible.  Thank you, NASA, thank you.

Thank you for reading my blog this week.  I love getting together like this.  It feels like home to me.  I hope you enjoy it. I love you all.

Life on Mars?  Find out: madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com.

Enjoy the weather, my dears.  We’ve received a little rain so some things have greened up.  That’s nice.  Too little, too late, the farmers say.  That’s not so nice.  Macrophobia!             

Open Blog - Wednesday


Will do.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

The Annual "Make You Feel Old List"

Little Beloit College has a great gig going where they get lots of publicity at the start of every school year by putting out The Mindset list designed to give college professors insight into this year's incoming  freshling (freshling: less sexist but more offensive that freshmen) class. It's a fairly long list: 75 items so I am not going to post the entire thing, but you can read it here. I must comment on a few of my favorites, of course.

10. On TV and in films, the ditzy dumb blonde female generally has been replaced by a couple of Dumb and Dumber males.

I still see plenty of ditzy blondes on television.

15.  Having grown up with MP3s and iPods, they never listen to music on the car radio and really have no use for radio at all.

Bad news for the future of talk radio.

19.  The Green Bay Packers have always celebrated with the Lambeau Leap.

Just because most of you are in Wisconsin.

23.  Women have always piloted war planes and space shuttles.

Some of these are good things.

24.  White House security has never felt it necessary to wear rubber gloves when gay groups have visited.

Very good things.

40.  A bit of the late Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, has always existed in space.

Just cool.

45.  While the iconic TV series for their older siblings was the sci-fi show Lost, for them it’sBreaking Bad, a gritty crime story motivated by desperate economic circumstances.

A show that should keep anyone from doing meth.

60. History has always had its own channel.

Although it has gotten pretty sucky (Can you say "Ancient Aliens"?)

72.  Astronauts have always spent well over a year in a single space flight.

Actually, only two men have spent more than a year on a single spaceflight (a third spent 364 days on one flight) and the most recent one landed in 1999, so I think someone dropped the ball on this one.

What are your favorites? What did they miss?

Best of Racine 2012

Ok boys and girls, time to do this again.

In this 1st installment for the year, 
please nominate your choice for Best of Racine - 

Best pizza - thin crust

Best pizza - thick crust

Best Italian 

More catergories will follow, vote/nominate now
(please!)

Spring In Wisconsin Wildflowers 3!

Yes it has been a long time for me to get more of my wildflowers named. Last month and this month are really crazy times in this house. I don't know if anyone knows right now we are in a drought here. All of the pictures I have taken in the spring that most of the flowers are gone already. I am so glad we went out to get the pictures when we did.


This is a Compass Plant. It is really funny how we found this one. Drew had picked me up from work one day, we were going down Green Bay Rd. and Drew seen this flower and he turned the car around. We pulled on the side of the road so I could get a picture. At first we thought this was a Sunflower but then when I looked it up I found out it was a Compass Plant. If you look at the flower it is like a compass for the sun dial the way it is tilted up.


This is a Trumpet Creeper Vine. This is another really funny story how I got this picture. We had just left Sanders Park on our way home. On the corner by a stop light at Taylor and Wood Ave. I looked out my window and asked Drew what that was he said just a minute and turned the corner pulled by the curb so I could get a picture. I just could not believe this is growing on a electrical pole.


This is a Day Lily it was taken at Grant Park in South Milwaukee. Drew and I decided one day to take a trip out that way. We went for a walk by the beach and then Drew pulled on the side of the road at wanted to see if he could find any wildlife in the trees by the lake and he also found this flower for me. I noticed one thing with this flower, since we took the picture I have been seeing them all over now.


This is a Black Eyed Susan we seen it at Pritchard Park. Just driving through there looking around and I seen this so I took a picture of it. In this park we have seen baby Goslings so we would go and see how much they have grown.


These are Brown Eyed Susan taken at the Root River. Drew went for a walk here while I was at work one day and seen them. He took the picture for me. I was really surprised when I came home and he showed this picture to me.
I know some people get the two flowers mixed up. What I am talking about is the Black Eyed Susan and the Brown Eyed Susan. I almost did but then I looked how many pedals, the leaves and the difference with the brown center area of each flower. That is the only ways to figure out which one it is.


This is a Thistle Plant at Schoop Park. This was another day while I was at work and Drew went for a walk. This one was really hard to figure out what kind of plant it was. That is what happens when he goes for his walks and I am at work. But I do figure out what kind they are but it takes me awhile to do that. It is a very pretty plant too.

I hope you enjoy the crazy way we go out and look for wildflowers. I have to say one thing it is fun going out there and looking for the wildlife and the wildflowers. We take turns doing the driving and taking pictures. I hope all of you enjoy these pictures.


Open Blog - Tuesday


The same goes for my unsweetened friends.